Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has placed the proposed budget for fiscal 2014-15 on Thursday.
Hear is a brief overview of today’s budget proposal:
GDP target 7.3%
The GDP target has been set at 7.3% for Fiscal Year 2014-15, the finance minister mentioned in his budget speech in the parliament on Thursday afternoon.
In the last year’s budget the GDP target was 7.2%.
Tk86,000cr allocation for ADP
The proposed national budget for the fiscal 2014-15 has set an Annual Development Programme (ADP) with an outlay of Tk86,000 crore.
The actual ADP size, however, stood at Tk80,315 crore without own financing of the corporations and autonomous bodies.
Budget sees Tk67,552 crore deficit
The volume of the annual budget proposal is Tk250,506 crore for the next fiscal. The revenue receipts for the next fiscal has been estimated at Tk1,82, 954 crore.
The overall budget deficit in fiscal 2014-15 will be Tk67,552 crore, which is 5% of GDP.
Tax free income for general taxpayers remains same
The tax free income for individual and general taxpayers has remain same as that of last fiscal.
The threshold of tax free income for individual taxpayers was Tk 2.20 lakh in fiscal 2013-14. This year, the limit of tax free income has not been increased for the general taxpayers.
Higher tax for high earners
Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the budget for 2014-15 financial year proposed higher tax rate for high earners.
In the budget, he proposed 30 percent tax for an annual income of Tk44.2 lakh or more instead of the existing 15%.
Cheque payment must for house rent over Tk 25000
In the budget for the 2014-15 financial year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed that the house rent over Tk25,000 a month should be paid through bank cheques.
The rent will include the service charges related to the rental property.
Mobile sets to get costlier
The price of mobile phone sets is likely to get costlier as Finance Minister AMA Muhith has proposed to impose 15% value-added tax on import of handsets at import stage.
While placing the Budget for fiscal 2014-15, he said: “Some Companies are assembling quality mobile phones in the country. They have to pay 15%VAT at the assembling stage.
Limit of duty-free gold import decreased
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has proposed that the passengers could bring up to 100gram of gold ornaments as duty free under the Passenger Baggage Rules .
He said the travelers could bring additional 200grams on payment of Tk3,000 specific duty for each tola of gold bar/bullion.
Comparative overview of recent years’ budgets
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has presented the proposed budget of the fiscal year 2014-15 in the parliament on Thursday afternoon.
In the recent years, the size of the budget has been constantly increasing and It is being expected that the increased budget will bring higher GDP growth than the previous years.
The comparison in terms of the major features may give an idea of how the budget has changed in the recent years.
Source: Dhaka Tribune